Page 190 - 2019 September 13th Christie's New York Important Chinese Works of Art

~911
A MOTHER-OF-PEARL-INLAID BLACK LACQUER SQUARE TRAY
MING DYNASTY, 16TH CENTURY
The tray is fnely inlaid with mother-of-pearl in the interior with a scene of The certifcate accompanying the present tray was written by Tsuishu Tozei
ducks and other birds swimming, fying, or standing in a lush river landscape, Choshi (d. 1719) in the second year, fourth month of the Hoei reign (1705).
all framed by shaped panels of birds perched in trees, which are repeated on Choshi is the tenth generation of the Tsuishu Yozei family, who served as a
the exterior. lacquer specialist to the Tokugawa shogunate. It is interesting to note that
the family name, Tsuishu Yozei, was named after two legendary Chinese
12º in. (31.3 cm.) square, Japanese wood box accompanied by a certifcate
dated 1705 Yuan dynasty lacquer carvers, Yang Mao and Zhang Cheng, while Tsuishu
literally means ‘carved red lacquer’.
$25,000-35,000
A mother-of-pearl-inlaid black lacquer rectangular tray decorated with
a related scene of water birds in a river landscape and similar borders of
PROVENANCE shaped panels and patterns, dated to the 15th-16th century, in the Yamato
Private collection, Tokyo, formed in the 1930-40s. Bunkakan, Nara, is illustrated in the catalogue Exhibition of Chinese Inlaid
Mother-of-Pearl Lacquer Art, Tokyo National Museum, 1979, no. 41. Compare,
also, a circular box and cover with similar decoration, illustrated ibid, no. 57.
明十六世紀 黑漆螺鈿嵌花鳥圖方盤

(box and certifcate)